Gulf Times

Storm Callum batters Britain with gale-force winds, rain

- By Aamna Mohdin and John Bennett

Storm Callum has battered parts of the UK with winds of up to 76mph and torrential rain, leaving more than 1,000 homes without electricit­y.

The Isles of Scilly endured the fiercest gusts, as the third named storm of the season swept through southwest England, Wales, and northwest England, while 60mph winds lashed Camborne in Cornwall and Milford Haven in Pembrokesh­ire.

The Met Office said flooding and travel disruption were likely across the UK.

It issued a 36-hour amber warning for much of south Wales, noting that heavy rain could pose a risk to life.

Yellow warnings were expected to remain in place until midnight in the rest of Wales and swaths of northern England and southern Scotland.

On Friday morning, the yellow warning was extended to cover more of south-west England, eastern Wales, western parts of the Midlands, northern and northeast England and southeast Scotland.

The Environmen­t Agency issued two warnings of flooding across the south coast of England and more than 20 flood alerts.

More than 2,000 homes in parts of Cumbria and Lancashire were left without power for several hours on Friday as the storm swept across the north-west of England.

Western Power Distributi­on said that there were outages at more than 950 homes in southwest England and nearly 100 in south Wales.

In Northern Ireland, hundreds of homes and businesses experience­d a loss of electricit­y.

Some flights were cancelled at Cardiff and Exeter airports, while rail passengers in Wales and the southwest of England were warned of disruption to services amid high winds.

Cheshire police said they had received several weather-related calls on Friday morning, while the Isle of Man constabula­ry warned motorists of difficult driving conditions.

The Met Office meteorolog­ist Alex Burkhill said: “We’ve got a wind warning which covers all the western side of the UK.

“That in itself is likely to bring disruption to roads, and there is likely to be some bridge closures and incidence of power outages.

“We also have yellow and amber warnings of between 50mm and 150mm of rain for Wales.

“That’s quite a substantia­l amount of rain to come and could bring flooding.”

Sioned Warrell, the duty tactical manager for Natural Resources Wales, said: “The forecast rain could cause flooding this week, especially in south and west Wales, and we are urging people to prepare themselves.

“Our teams are doing all they can to reduce the risk for communitie­s, but if there is flooding we want to make sure people are doing all they can to keep themselves safe.”

Though Windsor escaped the worst of the storm, guests arriving for the royal wedding were buffeted by high winds, with some hats blown off.

The southeast of England is expected to stay mainly dry, bright and windy, with temperatur­es climbing to 24° Celsius (75° Fahrenheit).

 ??  ?? Cars caught in flood water after Storm Callum passed through the town of Carmarthen, west Wales.
Cars caught in flood water after Storm Callum passed through the town of Carmarthen, west Wales.

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